Mission’s Pearce looks to the future

By Isaak Olson
on May 29, 2008

Maybe he lost his factory job of
20 years because the company took its business overseas. Maybe she’s addicted
to gambling, alcohol or drugs. Maybe his wife was killed by a drunk driver and
he never recovered from the loss. Maybe it’s a mental illness, a chronic
sickness or just a lack of the right social tools that keep most of us on our
feet in today’s fast paced world.

The homeless
always have a story to tell and it’s almost always a multilayered tale that
descends a downward spiral.

Officials at
Montreal’s Old Brewery Mission (OBM) have been working to stop homelessness in
its tracks and now, with a new director general looking to the future, there
are plans to expand a comprehensive program that approaches the issue with a
progressive, treatment-driven agenda dedicated to solutions and change rather
than just temporary relief.

Founded in 1889,
the OBM has long provided overnight shelter and meals to the city’s thousands
of homeless but, in recent years, under the guiding hand of former Director
General James Hughes, the mission has also become a place of transition that
works to solve homelessness – a step that goes well beyond emergency services
like food and refuge.

This work toward
solution is what caught Matthew Pearce’s eye. When Hughes accepted a position
in the New Brunswick government, Pearce, a native Montrealer who’s worked and
traveled around the globe, stepped up to the plate. OBM’s new transitional
programs work with clients from day one, providing counseling, referrals and
living assistance. This, Pearce said, has already had a “significant impact” on
the homeless community.

“With these
solutions in place, there is an almost instant effect,” Pearce said. “That’s
what excites me; to see solution; to see change. We put people into more stable
lifestyles. I’m convinced we’re really onto something here.”

Having taken the
position this past March, Pearce said he is settled in and now looking to the
future of OBM. His sites are set on expanding these transitional programs that
not only provide people the tools necessary for climbing out of the cycle of
homelessness but also track people for several years in an effort to catch them
if they fall back into the arms of destitution.

While city
officials estimate 10,000 homeless, other estimates put the count at around
30,000. With people staying in temporary shelters, living on the streets,
sleeping in cheap hotels, couch surfing, or calling their cars home, the number
of homeless is hard to track, Pearce admitted, but there is no denying that
homelessness has long been part of Montreal’s fabric. Citing a recent Simon
Fraser University study that proves it is more cost effective to work with
people rather than letting them go untreated, Pearce said gaining the financial
footing necessary to run these programs long-term is going to be the next big
step.

Given an initial
boost by private donations, the transitional programs are going to need strong
finances to continue and expand, Pearce said, and, besides looking to the
government and private business sector, the new director will be asking
Montrealers for help. Noting the mission’s more than a century’s service to the
city, Pearce said he is confident people will be willing to give to the
organization. Individual donations, he said, will be an important part of what
has become a priority for OBM – funding. The mission will soon be launching a
major fund raising campaign.

“We’re not
talking about vast sums of money here,” Pearce said. “We have a formula for
successes that brings quick results. This is the way to address homelessness.
The OBM, for about 115 years, was about soothing homelessness. Now it’s about
solving. Soothing is an important thing but it’s not good enough.”

Some, Pearce
said, might see someone begging on the street and think they should just get a
job, quit drinking or figure things out on their own. There is a wide range of
reasons for how people end up falling out of a stable living situation. People,
he said, don’t just wake up one day and decide to move out onto the streets.

“People are not
choosing homelessness because it’s easy,” Pearce said. “It’s not an easy way
out. There are always circumstances. None of them are there because it’s better
than working for a living.”

Other initiatives
include expanding an already growing collaboration with the other shelters in
Montreal. Although OBM is Quebec’s largest organization serving homeless men
and women, there are other shelters throughout the city that bring the total
bed count up over a thousand. Collaboration, Pearce said, is a relatively new
and effective means of providing food, shelter and transitional services.

Another example
of collaboration is that between OBM and Verdun’s Douglas Hospital. The newly
established La Maison de Claude Laramée opened its doors April 7. OBM, teamed
up with the hospital that specializes in mental health care, provides released
patients with a supported living environment that allows them a sense of
freedom while building a new life and reintegrating into mainstream society.
With room for nine so far, Pearce said, clients receive counseling from OBM’s
trained staff as well as extended care from the hospital.

Pearce was born
in Calgary and grew up in Montreal. With an education background in history and
political science, Pearce said he has long had an interest in society and has
demonstrated that throughout his life. After spending time trekking the globe,
he got involved with Canada World Youth – an organization dedicated to
delivering international education programs to youth through community
immersion and volunteer experience. Over the two decades that followed, Pearce
eventually became the president and CEO of Canada World Youth and held that
role from 2000 to 2005.

Prior to his post
at OBM, Pearce was the founding president of International Network for
Corporate Responsibility, an organization that provides a place for
corporations to make known what they are doing for society or the environment.
Noting the millions of dollars that get donated to charitable work each year,
Pearce said he wanted to acknowledge the work members of the private sector are
doing for the world.

After catching
wind of the open position of director general at OBM, Pearce said he researched
the facility and got to know its mission. The new programs, dedicated to
bringing people out of homelessness, were the biggest motivator behind his bid
for the post. Overall, he said he is impressed with OBM and the dedication of
its staff and board of directors. He said he sees the multifaceted organization
as a means to combat homelessness and, with time, he would like to develop and
expand OBM’s initiatives.“I think it’s a
real success story but we’ve got to do more,” Pearce said. “I’m completely
convinced, by evidence and results, that we are on the right track.”